Thursday, January 30, 2014

It's all sandwiched, pinned and even a little quilting started. I laid it out on the bed and as I was looking at it --- OMG, Heavens to Betsy, it can't be!!!!--- but there it was! One little flower is not buttonholed stitched (you also get a good look at a bobble on the leaf of the flower alongside) and how in heck can I remedy that? After the initial shock, I think that I will be able to hand buttonhole around the little flower if I am careful. By taking out some of the pins that should work fine even though I have quilted along the entire width of the quilt just above the blue sashing. Things like this really keep a person humble!!

Earlier this winter when I was going through things in the basement, I found a plastic bag with this little muslin doll, the drawing and two pieces of fabric. The doll was one I had made several of from a pattern in a magazine, I think. I had one or two pinned to the curtains in my sewing room in the house we bought after we moved back to our hometown when Ray retired. Molly, my middle granddaughter, loved to go through my fabric and I know she spent lots of happy time looking through the drawers. This is the dress she designed that I was supposed to make for the little doll and the fabric to use. Explicit instructions about placement of trim and fabric! It certainly made me smile when I looked at this little remembrance from the past. I really should make the little dress and dress the dolly for Annie's room. What you find when you don't throw things away! I texted pictures to Molly but she didn't remember doing that. She probably was only 8 or 9. How the years have flown by!!

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Day before yesterday, I put all the rows together on Lauren's quilt and added the little eyes, noses, etc., to all the creatures that are part of the little piece. Used the pigma pen in the sepia color and I think it will be fine.

Yesterday and today, I cut and laid out pieces for the backing of the quilt. No rhyme nor reason - some pieces long and some six inches square. I rather like that look. Sewed them all together and pressed the back and the top and made my quilt sandwich!! Yeah!! Looking back at my posts, I started working on this about the 9th of January so it has taken close to three weeks to get together. I will start quilting maybe this evening. The finish is in sight and little Lauren will have her quilt soon. I am also contemplating making a cute pillow for her big brother and tucking in some books, etc., for the little ones when I send the package.

I am hoping this awful cold will go away and that I can do a little shopping in a few days. I have only been out of my house once since Thursday or Friday. Yesterday, I took out my garbage, started the car and let it run a while, took some letters up to our cluster box on the corner, got my mail that had been accumulating for several days, and then very gladly went back in to the warm!! That sharp cold air does not feel good when I breath it in. Not bothered being cooped up as I always have plenty to do. If I got real bored, I could clean the house! Don't see that happening yet! Stay warm out there!

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Another cold, cold, snowy day. Have two little videos to share - first of the little sweetie pie in Oregon who is now walking very well and so very, very cute. How they grow!

Then, my neighbor sent me a link to a video on Youtube that is just cool and something we can all try. It has to do with separating eggs in a way that is so different. Whoda thunk! Take a peek.https://www.youtube.com/embed/iAp8pEaWB1Y

I will get the little quilt in one piece today!! Hopefully, I can get the backing ready, too. In the meantime, stay warm - spring will get here eventually.

Friday, January 24, 2014

Such a cold, cold day - wind chill was supposed to be 15 - 25 below zero! And it's not just us, but much of the country is experiencing the bitter cold and snow. I would say this is a real winter - one of the old fashioned kinds we can remember back years and years ago. It doesn't bother me much as long as I have food and warmth. There is always something that I want to do and I do get a lot of work done on my quilting. By the way, the two little squirrels pictured here is from one of my boards on Pinterest--The North Wind Doth Blow. Aren't they lucky little things to be in the little squirrel box together? I see some scampering around here and the little guys seem to know how to survive awful weather.

It's almost all appliqued!!! And I have decided on the sashing - what do you think? I like the way it looks with a solid strip between the rows. On this strip, I just have the "apples" and the leaves on the flowers to do.

I will trace the date on a piece of backed fabric with a pigma pen then applique the sign and fuse it on the post. There is an extra butterfly that I had fused together and it was too big for the panels. Now I think I am going to sew this row and the strip above it together, then fuse the butterfly across both and buttonhole stitch it. Thought that might be cute. I am for sure going to use the pigma pens for the faces, feelers, whiskers, etc.

Earlier I had a text from my daughter and she is in Denver with Norah and family. 60 degrees there! Despite the bitter cold, she had a good flight and I think it was timely one without much in the way of delay. She has been so excited to go and I am sure they are just as excited to have her there.

I can smell my turkey soup! I bought a couple of Honeysuckle White turkey thighs and cooked them with onions, celery, etc., and have now added carrots. Will put in some noodles and then put the cut up turkey back in. Will have several days of soup!! Like money in the bank.

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Here is Henry and his little sister, Lauren. I promise you every post will not be about my three little greatgrandchildren, but I really have them on my mind now and they are such a blessing!

This afternoon a video came through from Norah, and Lauren can be seen close up and personal - she has filled her little tummy and is very content.

And I am still working on the little quilt. Actually did a lot of the buttonhole stitching yesterday and will be back working on it tomorrow.

Working on like colors in each strip. Love these little turtles I found!

Here are parts of three of the strips together. The windowframe will be fused after the curtains are stitched down. Then I will decide on the sashings (I have two different ones in mind) and it will be close to time to quilt it. I went to Sit and Sew today and the girls liked what I have done so far. It's always good to get their reactions. I almost didn't go--it's really, really cold--but the sun was shining and I haven't been out and about much since Christmas so it was good to be with my quilting friends! I hope they know what a fun part they play in my life. It's like I have a great bunch of adopted daughters.

Sunday, January 19, 2014

This afternoon, my oldest granddaughter, Norah, gave birth to her new little daughter in Denver. Mommy and baby are doing wonderfully well. The wee one weighed in at 7 lbs and 1 oz and is 19 inches long. Her name is Lauren Carol - I am so very touched to have my name as her middle name! The entire family was kept updated by both Chad and Norah all afternoon via texting back and forth and also pictures! Henry was there, too, since there is no family physically there (but we were all there via the internet and in spirit).

Here is sweet little Lauren all cleaned up and wearing a beribboned hat. They certainly don't come any sweeter than this little babe. Grandma Sherry will be flying out to spend some time with the family the end of next week. She is so excited to be going.

Here are parts of three rows for the little quilt. I will put in some statistics - dob, weight, etc. near the little rabbit family. There is one more row not shown here. Now I can start my buttonhole stitching. Then I will put the sashing between the rows and on the top and bottom and then quilt it. I don't think I will have it done in time to send it out with Sherry but it shouldn't be much later than that.

Friday, January 17, 2014

Lots and lots of cutting for the little quilt. Some of the pieces are teensy and getting the paper off the back of the fused fabric is a challenge. Then when you get it off, it is full of static electricity and wants to stick to your fingers so it makes that step take about twice as long. It's getting very close to being all cut out - I have arranged and rearranged a lot and made changes here and there. I think it takes more time designing one yourself than using a pattern mainly because sometimes what I think is going to look good, doesn't. I truly am enjoying working on this for the little one. And her birth is imminent - probably in the next couple of days. I am thinking of Norah and her entire family so much. It will be good when the little girl is in her mommy and daddy's arms.

This is the last pair of hot pads that I made - they are for one of my favorite people who loves sock monkeys. She wasn't with us when we went to Frankenmuth for dinner before Christmas, so I took them along to guild this week for her. Lori is one of the girls who made several of the pin cushions I have. Thought these would go along with her sock monkey collection. And I have her round robin to work on this month - guess what it's theme is? You're right!!!

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Here is one strip of the little quilt for the new little baby who is due any second! I have started some of the machine applique and am loving the colors. Will be using all colors - usually darker than the piece it is sewn on.

Also like the solids along with the Aunt Gracie prints. Still not sure of how I will do the little faces, buggy feelers, etc. Embroidery would be cool as it would add more pretty color to the piece. I still have lots and lots to do although the pieces are probably 75% cut and fused.

Then yesterday, Kathi brought me my red applique quilt back. I am so very happy with the way she quilted it. She did a simple stipple in the background - no pattern shows on the pretty print and it just needs the texture. Then using red thread, she did some quilting in some of the flowers and leaves and around the diamond border (the one that I applique instead of piece) and a pretty feather in the outer border. The blocks are big - and some of the pieces are very big so they needed some quilting in them. Kathi did a beautiful job.

Another view of the quilt. I will have to name it and also my red dresden plate quilt. I think these are my third and fourth red quilts - the first one was a whole cloth type I quilted in 1987. We certainly don't make quilts like this anymore!!! I did nothing but hand quilting for many years and was pretty darned good at it but haven't done any for probably ten years. I am proud of my hand quilted quilts - makes me feel good when I look at them.

So since this is "Seeing Red" - I may name the applique quilt "Seeing Red Again" and the Dresden plate "Seeing Red Yet Again". It's for sure red is my favorite color!!

So along with the little baby quilt, I have my two pretty red quilts to bind, and a challenge quilt to make for the quilt show in April - needs to be done by the March meeting, plus one more round of the round robin. This is the time of year to get projects like this done - good sewing season! I know what I will be doing for the challenge quilt and even have everything gathered up for it in a plastic container. Egads, I am so organized!!! I am looking forward to doing it. It actually is a 20 x 24 wallhanging with the theme being a scene from the state of Michigan. A road runs through each one and they will be hung with the roads connected. We all have the same fabric for the road and it will be the same size - you can put it anyplace on the piece that you wish to have it so the pieces will be staggered. Think it should be fun.

Saturday, January 11, 2014

In looking over the blogs on my sidebar this morning, there was a post on NanaCompany - a beautiful blog by a very talented young woman. Her work is exquisite. She included counted cross stitch in her post this a.m. Part of the caption beneath this picture was-----

"(Please try not to notice how I store my Cosmo floss supply. Trying to keep it organized, I realize, is futile.)"

That made me giggle and immediately think of one day at Sit and Sew when I had brought along my embroidery (as had some of the other gals) and I took some friendly flack about the condition of my floss! Some of the girls wind their floss around little cardboard things that are made just for that purpose and have them arranged beautifully by color. I am feeling vindicated that there is as least one other needleworker who shares my bad habit - but I actually don't think she has quite as big a jumble of floss as I do. I figure that if things get too tangled and I'm not able to straighten some of the mess out, floss is cheap and it doesn't bother me to toss out some thread snarls!! However, I certainly don't encourage anyone to do as I do!!!! It isn't pretty!!!

Check out NanaCompany on my sidebar. She takes gorgeous pictures - and has many pictures of her cute little girl. Also, some of older children. A very nice blog.

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Right outside my sewing room window the other day! Snow, snow and more snow - and so very cold! Like much of our nation, it's been mighty cold and snowy in Michigan. It has been almost a week since I have poked my nose outside but that doesn't bother me. As long as I am nice and warm and there is food in the house, I am good to go. This is too cold, but I have never minded winter and can always find something to do. Right now I am working on the little quilt for Henry's new little sister to be who is due any day now. The quilt won't be ready right away, but it will be done before she is many weeks old. I am thinking of Norah and wishing her an easy delivery. Sherry will be flying out to be with the family for a spell and give them the love and help they will need at this time.

Going Aunt Gracie!! Found some darling clipart that I love and have worked with that. This will be a row quilt with multipatterns of the prints as sashing. I think there will be four white rows and five of the prints. I want to find a good black pen to draw the bunny eyes, noses, mouths and whiskers . Want something that is permanent, naturally, and that does not bleed. I could embroider, but figure that french knots might come out and it is quite a bit of embroidery. Don't want to use button eyes for a little baby. Would like to have several thicknesses - fine, medium and rather heavy. If you have any ideas for me, let me know. Getting the features on the faces really wakes everything up.

Will press down the window frame after appliqueing the "curtains".

This is the right end of the row. The kitty has a little white face and a white marking on her tummy. I still need a couple of things on this strip and am working on that. I will either do the buttonhole stitch in black or contrasting colors.

Plan on venturing out tomorrow - temp is supposed to be 38. Will seem like a heat wave! Stay warm out there! Here are some words for today-

Monday, January 6, 2014

Saturday, January 4, 2014

My third little great grandbaby will be born in the next two weeks, more
or less, and I haven't done much on a quilt for the new little baby
girl yet. Thought I had it all figured out, but now I'm not so sure.
Have been surfing the net for ideas - and there are tons and tons of
them!

Back in early November, I had put this up on my wall with the plan being I would do owls, birds and maybe a butterfly or two. If I don't use this for the baby quilt, it won't be a lose as it would lend itself to something else. I do like the dots and stripes. However, I was thinking maybe more girly for a sweet little newborn. I have a lot of 30's reproduction fabric which I love and it lends itself so well to things for little ones. Also down in the basement are quite a bit of solid fabric in all colors and there are also some pieces of offwhite that could be used for block background. I have been looking at clipart and saving things I like in files. Baby animals are one category in the running-

Aren't those cute? And so simple.

Bugs and flowers. Cute, cute.

I love this one - but it would be an overall design. It would be adorable. Now some quilts I have pinned to my Pinterest board of Quilts - Kids.

How on earth do you decide? Then, on a website called Syverkstan Quilting, I found free pdf files for a quilt called Crazy Cats. There is also one for dogs - can't remember what the adjective is for them! However these are pretty darned cute.

with a pattern for each kitty and a layout of the quilt. This might look smashing in Aunt Gracie fabrics, too.

Decisions, decisions! If you would like to see lots more cute baby quilts, go over to my Pinterest boards by clicking on the top button on my side bar.

Pieces of the Past

Here's Henry

And Here's Annie

And Here's Lauren

About Me

My name is Carol. I am a quiltaholic. I am now 85 years old and have been blessed with a wonderful family and good health. Keeping busy is no problem for me - in fact, I don't do much cleaning and cooking anymore. I have been quilting for about 35 years. Working on this computer is so amazing - how glad I am that I got in on this in my lifetime.

Funoldhag

(Selfies are in - I was gritting my teeth and taking pics of myself the other day. OMG, I hate how I look on the cellphone screen. However, there is the great delete button that you can get rid of the many bad pictures. I thought this one wasn't too bad so here is a current pic of Funoldhag.) AKA Carol---------My middle granddaughter and I used to tease and call each other silly names. She called me "the old hag" but always with a twinkle in her eye. I added "fun" to it and used it as one of my screennames.

The Start of it All

In 1972 when we moved to Overland Park, Kansas, I was given some quilt blocks by my neighbor. She knew I sewed and these had been made by her mother. She was in her 70's at that time. I put the blocks together with like white blocks. We would go to Arkansas a couple of times a year to fish and would always visit Eureka Springs, a darling little town in the Ozarks. I had never quilted but found a quilt shop there and eventually took the top to have it quilted in Arkansas. The backing and batting were included in the price of $50.00 for hand quilting. I took two other quilts down there before I finally started quilting them myself.